This just in...instant weight loss without dieting courtesy of space and Albert Einstein!
in Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, Earth Structure and Processes, Scientific World View, Structure of Matter, Math, Scientific Inquiry, The Water Cycle, Weather and Climate, Scientific Enterprise, The Universe, Motion, Forces of Nature, and Historic Perspectives
GOCE Satellite: The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer
Courtesy ESACan it be true? Yes, for a mere $5,544 dollars round-trip airfare to Greenland! In March 2009, the European Space Agency launched the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) into orbit around our planet, which is now transmitting detailed data about the Earth’s gravity. The GOCE satellite uses a gradiometer to map tiny variations in the Earth’s gravity caused by the planet’s rotation, mountains, ocean trenches, and interior density. New maps illustrating gravity gradients on the Earth are being produced from the information beamed back from GOCE. Preliminary data suggests that there is a negative shift in gravity in the northeastern region of Greenland where the Earth’s tug is a little less, which means you might weigh a fraction of a pound lighter there (a very small fraction, so it may not be worth the plane fare)!
In America, NASA and Stanford University are also working on the gravity issue. Gravity Probe B (GP-B) is a satellite orbiting 642 km (400 miles) above the Earth and uses four gyroscopes and a telescope to measure two physical effects of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity on the Earth: the Geodetic Effect, which is the amount the earth warps its spacetime, and the Frame-Dragging Effect, the amount of spacetime the earth drags with it as it rotates. (Spacetime is the combination of the three dimensions of space with the one dimension of time into a mathematical model.)
Quick overview time. The Theory of General Relativity is simply defined as: matter telling spacetime how to curve, and curved spacetime telling matter how to move. Imagine that the Earth (matter) is a bowling ball and spacetime is a trampoline. If you place the bowling ball in the center of the trampoline it stretches the trampoline down. Matter (the bowling ball) curves or distorts the spacetime (trampoline). Now toss a smaller ball, like a marble, onto the trampoline. Naturally, it will roll towards the bowling ball, but the bowling ball isn’t ‘attracting’ the marble, the path or movement of the marble towards the center is affected by the deformed shape of the trampoline. The spacetime (trampoline) is telling the matter (marble) how to move. This is different than Newton’s theory of gravity, which implies that the earth is attracting or pulling objects towards it in a straight line. Of course, this is just a simplified explanation; the real physics can be more complicated because of other factors like acceleration.
Albert Einstein
Courtesy noneSo what is the point of all this high-tech gravity testing? First of all, our current understanding of the structure of the universe and the motion of matter is based on Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity; elaborate concepts and mathematical equations conceived by a genius long before we had the technology to directly test them for accuracy. The Theory of General Relativity is the cornerstone of modern physics, used to describe the universe and everything in it, and yet it is the least tested of Einstein’s amazing theories. Testing the Frame-Dragging Effect is particularly exciting for physicists because they can use the data about the Earth’s influence on spacetime to measure the properties of black holes and quasars.
Second, the data from the GOCE satellite will help accurately measure the real acceleration due to gravity on the earth, which can vary from 9.78 to 9.83 meters per second squared around the planet. This will help scientists analyze ocean circulation and sea level changes, which are influenced by our climate and climate change. The information that the GOCE beams back will also assist researchers studying geological processes such as earthquakes and volcanoes.
So, as I gobble down another mouthful of leftover turkey and mashed potatoes, I can feel confident that my holiday weight gain and the structure of the universe are of grave importance to the physicists of the world!
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WISE take off: WISE launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Courtesy Bill Hartenstein/United Launch AllianceNASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Maria, CA yesterday morning. WISE will scan the sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing 1.5 million images, one every 11 seconds. The 10 month mission will create images of 99% of the sky with infrared image detectors that are significantly more sensitive to infrared sky features than the sky surveys of previous major infrared space survey telescopes. WISE Deputy Project Scientist Amy Mainzer says the mission will provide what she calls a "Google map to the universe."
VY Canis Majoris v. our Sun: No contest.
Courtesy Public domainIf you’re like me, you’re fretting about what to buy your significant other this coming holiday season. Let it go. We have bigger problems. There’s a humongous star in the constellation Canis Major that’s in its final death throes and could go supernova at any time. VY Canis Majoris, as it is referenced, is the largest star known to science, and is so huge, if it were placed in the center of our Solar System, it would encompass all the space between our Sun and the orbit of the planet Saturn (see diagram). But don’t worry, the unstable red hypergiant is nearly 5000 light-years away, and is being monitored closely (in far-infrared and submillimeter portions of the light spectrum) by the European Space Agency's new space telescope Herschel. Read more here about what's actually going on.
Watch this cool animation by NASA showing how the International Space Station has come together over the past 11 years.
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LaserMotive wins $900,000 power beaming space elevator prize
An 11-pound contraption built by LaserMotive of Kent, Wash., successfully climbed up a kilometer high cable suspended from a helicopter in 4 minutes 2 seconds. This qualified them for $900,000. If they had done it in 3 minutes the prize would have been 1.1 million dollars. In four years of the power-beaming competition, LaserMotive is the only competitor to qualify for a cash prize.
Contests are getting the job done
Million dollar prizes are motivating research and development in areas that probably wouldn’t be done otherwise, said Andrew Petro, manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. Many of these challenges have just finished.
Learn more about other Centennial challenges
- Power Beaming Challenge
- Regolith Excavation Competition
- Astronaut Glove Competition
- Lunar Lander Competition
Source
Winner in Contest Involving Space Elevator New York Times
Artist conception of exoplanet
Courtesy NASA/JPL-CaltechThe European Southern Observatory just announced that its High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) has detected several new exoplanets orbiting distant star systems. Learn more here, and look for a rise in Name-Your-Own-Planet scams this coming holiday season.
Evidence of new collision on Jupiter: Scarring on lower left sector marks recent impact on the giant planet.
Courtesy NASA/JPL/Infrared Telescope FacilityAn amateur astronomer in Australia has discovered a scar on the planet Jupiter indicating a recent collision between the planet and a comet or asteroid. Anthony Wesley noticed the new scar had appeared on the planet’s surface sometime between the hours of 5 a.m and 11 a.m (CDT) on the morning of July 20, 2009. NASA scientists used the agency’s Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii to confirm the impact. This new collision comes practically fifteen years to the day since the spectacular Levy-Shoemaker comet collided with Jupiter in 1994.
"We were extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of Jupiter to witness the event,” said Glenn Orton, a JPL scientist.
“We couldn't have planned it better."
Go here to read more about it.
UPDATE 7-24-09: I've added this new Hubble photo of Jupiter impact site via Space.com
Hubble photo of Jupiter impact
Courtesy NASA, ESA, H. Hamel (Space Science Institute, and the Jupiter Impact Team.
The Mythbusters are taking on moon landing conspiracy theorists. And, y'know, if the Mythbusters say it's all true, that's good enough for me.
Walking onto the Moon
Courtesy NASA
July 20, 1969
I was in college when humankind first stepped on the moon. We bought large glossy photos of the event and hung them on our dorm room wall. Monday, July 20, 2009 is going to be a day to celebrate the 40 year anniversary of stepping on the moon.
Events in celebration of the Apollo 11 anniversary
NASA has a web page of Apollo 40th Anniversary Events and Activities. Newseum.org has a great video showing Apollo 11 events. If your computer and internet are state of the art, here is a cool 360 interactive view of being on the moon.. Wired.com has links to photos, videos, and audios, and TV broadcasts celebrating the Apollo 11 moon landing.
We will go to the Moon again soon
I know a lot of you were not even born when this happened but don't worry. We are going to figure out how to do it again, soon!
Apollo 11 launch
Courtesy NASAToday's the 40th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Apollo 11 mission to the moon. On July 16, 1969 at 13:32 UTC (9:32 a.m. local time), a Saturn V rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral on mankind's first mission to walk on the lunar surface. Thousands of spectators watched the launch in Florida. It took 12 minutes for the rocket to place the three Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Arldrin, and Michael Collins into orbit around the Earth, after which they would head across more than 225,000 miles of empty space to the Moon.
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